<p>Finally, after 7 years, the guy has made a speech that is clearly enunciated, to the point, understandable, well presented and with appropriate body language.</p>
<p>his medication must be at the right dosage, or his ear mike fixed</p>
<p>too bad it was mostly fiction</p>
<p>“too bad it was mostly fiction”
IMO,
- If this speech was fiction, then the past speeches were facts.
- If this speech is truth, then the past speeches were fiction.
- If this speech is truth, and the past speeches were truths, then the future is OK.
- If this speech is fiction, and the past speeches were fiction, then the future is false.
Any more possible combinations?</p>
<p>1 of 4 possible outcomes that result in a success in Iraq is about what the belief level that this guy has.</p>
<p>Now we’ve reduced Iraq to a 4 question multiple choice test. </p>
<p><em>applause</em></p>
<p>I missed the part in the speech where the guy talked about the progress towards the eighteen benchmarks he proposed as the justification for the escalation back in January.</p>
<p>Senator Clinton had it exactly right in her letter to President yesterday:</p>
<p>“What you are planning to tell the American people tomorrow night is that one year from now, there will be the same number of troops in Iraq as there were one year ago.</p>
<p>It’s ground hog day, over and over and over again, one Friedman Unit at a time. The Friedman Units run out on election day 2008.</p>
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</p>
<p>When another republican is in the white house? I really don’t get why the dems would nominate Hilary…she will not win! OTOH I guess I shouldn’t expect more from the party that nominated gore and kerry back to back.</p>
<p>Another $100 billion borrowed from the Chinese. US casulaties approaching 5000. And, the same number of US troops in Iraq on election day 2008 as there were on election day 2004.</p>
<p>The Republicans will get wiped out.</p>
<p>I find it fascinating the depth of Republican disbelief that Hillary can win the election, the poll numbers and the state of their own party notwithstanding. I guess it’s part of being a faith-based community. Or else they reassure themselves by talking to each other.</p>
<p>In 1975, my left-leaning English friend was overjoyed that Margaret Thatcher had just been made leader of the Conservatives in Britain. “Britain will never elect a woman to be Prime Minister”, he assured me.</p>
<p>I think you over-estimate Hillary’s popularity. Many females are quite opposed to her, and women make up a lot of the population.</p>
<p>Also, you over-estimate the Republican party as just full of the “religious right”.</p>
<p>Fred will fix all this!</p>
<p>How many troops do any of the democratic candidates propose to have in Iraq in one year? At one point Clinton was proposing to “maintain” a presence there indefinitely I think. How many troops are required to maintain a presence? More recently she has suggested withdrawal, but of how many troops and when?</p>
<p>I am not picking on Hillary. I would like to know the answer to this question from Obama and Edwards too. Obviously I want no more deployment to Iraq for very personal reasons. However, the maintenance of a “presence” there would still mean that troops would be continuously deployed there as others come home.</p>
<p>Give the President credit where credit is do. He was not so disingenuous as to claim there was anything in his Iraq policy that would benefit America.</p>
<p>^ Good point. </p>
<p>Please encourage your friends, family and neighbors to not vote for the guy they want to have a beer with next time.</p>
<p>“There are two things that a Democratic people will always find difficult: to begin a war and to end a war.”</p>
<p>Alexis de Tocqueveiile</p>
<p>“I find it fascinating the depth of Republican disbelief that Hillary can win the election”</p>
<p>I actually find the opposite to be true and I’m an example. I KNOW that That Woman will be the next president and have been saying so since she announced. It’s most of my democratic friends who say otherwise.</p>
<p>^ I don’t know about Hillary. Yes, she has huge name recognition - I’m not sure that translates into primary votes. Personally, I wouldn’t vote for her. I will not forgive her yes vote on the war (among other things).</p>
<p>I would be more inclined to support the current approach if the President would come out and say: “It was my mistake to go to war. It was a second mistake to wage it so poorly. But now we are in a mess that we cannot afford to leave without fixing because the consequences would be even more disastrous than the current situation.” He now says the last sentence but without the first two, there is no credibility.</p>
<p>“I’m not sure that translates into primary votes. Personally, I wouldn’t vote for her.”</p>
<p>I’m not sure if the primary is where she will have the problems that you mentioned. She may have enough momentum to get the nomination despite people like yourself. However, I know firm Democrats who vow that even in a general election that they would never vote for her. One (my brother) said that he would vote for McCain, another (a woman) said that she would just stay home.</p>
<p>“One (my brother) said that he would vote for McCain, another (a woman) said that she would just stay home.”</p>
<p>One can only hope. The thought of That Woman becoming president makes me ill, but I still won’t move to France. So there!</p>
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<p>She hasn’t said that at all. Just the opposite. She has said that she will NOT have permanent US bases in Iraq as Bush committed to in his speech last night.</p>
<p>Clinton has said that she will begin a rapid redeployment of troops within 60 days of taking office – as soon as the Pentagon can operationally implement a plan for what will be a challenging withdrawal through the Shia militia controlled south to Kuwait. The rate she has suggested based on military estimates of what is logistically possible is 1 to 2 battalions per month. This would reduce the troop levels by about half after the first year.</p>
<p>She has outlined four possible roles for the US military after we have pulled combat troops out of the civil war:</p>
<p>a) a peacekeeping buffer along the northern Kurdish border as the Kurds have established a reasonably stable region that is a tempting flash point for external forces (Turkey to the north, Iran to the East, Sunnis to the South). A deterrent force could deter fighting from breaking out.</p>
<p>b) Protection of US workers at the embassy and elsewhere.</p>
<p>c) Special ops forces against Al Qaeda in Iraq.</p>
<p>d) Perhaps a Iraqi military training role. She has said that this really depends on whether there is an Iraqi goverment to support when she takes office.</p>